Chapter 3: A Broken Wing

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Keitorin Amehana stood in front of the full-length mirror propped against the wall, surveying herself with a stern eye. She watched her small, pale hand smooth the top section of her baby-blue and turquoise dress in the typical Amehana clan fashion. The young woman smiled to think about it, remembering the dresses her mother lovingly had sewn from a pre-wrought pattern, and how long it had taken her adoptive father, Iruka, to sew this one. It was fairly perfect in her pretty eyes, even if she could pick out the places one by one that she'd secretly had to re-sew or patch. The comfortable thought made her giggle, and the smile that went along with it was just the accessory she was looking for and had needed. She picked up the binder with all of her paperwork in it, the folder she'd assembled but a moment ago with all the papers she needed to turn into Gaara-sama, and went out the door.

As the small-statured kunoichi closed the nice wooden door behind her and began a brisk walk to the Kazekage's office in the center of the mansion, something blocked her way. Keitorin fell back against the door and looked up to see Temari of the Sand in all of her tall, strong beauty, smirking down at her.

"Temari!" The foreign brunette exclaimed, a look of shock gluing itself to her delicate features. "You're back from Konoha!" Soon, the scared expression gave way to excitement, bringing a healthy flush into her otherwise mostly colorless face.

"Your letters were received well, Kei-Chan." Temari grinned, ruffling the younger girl's soft brown locks. "And everyone's doing fine. Here." At this, the tan blonde handed the medic a stack of envelopes from behind her back. "Return letters." She smiled mischievously, anticipating her new friend's reaction. Keitorin's face lit up as she adjusted the numerous folders in her arms so she could take this second unexpected surprise.

"For me?" The smaller shinobi asked, delighted by the weight of the tied parcel.

"All for you, sugar plum." Temari confirmed. She'd taken a quick liking to the visiting girl, maybe because being a diplomat to the Leaf had made her more open to being friends with Konoha shinobi, or maybe because the other girl was just so cute and energetic. The blonde kunoichi didn't care to think of the reason, just enjoyed the smiles Kei gave her and the light she brought to the otherwise gloomy mansion, a piece of everything she loved about Konoha right here at home. "Why are you up so early?"

It was the question Keitorin was most hoping would be avoided. A dark blush hung off her pale cheekbones as her bright eyes flashed to the floor in mild shame. Temari watched her face for a couple of moments, deeply curious as to what was going on in the younger girl's mind.

"W-Well, the early bird gets the worm, as they say! Hahaha!" Even as she lied, flashes of the previous night assaulted her mind's eye; Gaara's hand on her face, and then her hand on his; His lips, which had looked so soft she'd found herself staring for an uncalled for length of time; the way he'd spoken, so softly, and then swiftly all business again, that subtle, sometimes raspy voice; and finally, the smirk he'd had when he mentioned Temari to her, the first smile she'd ever seen from the stoic Kazekage. She was sure she'd never forget it.

Her sandy-blonde companion raised an eye-brow at her but decided to let it go.

"Hey, why don't you come by my room for lunch later, and we can get caught up? Right now I have a meeting with some other friends." She stopped and looked at Keitorin inquisitively, her usual smirk melting into a serious expression. "I'd invite you to come with, but you have work, right?"

"Oh, yes!" The brunette piped up, her face and neck still feeling hot from the images bombarding her mind only moments before. She tugged on her collar distractedly. "Yeah, I need to get going. I'm sorry. But lunch, definitely!"

Temari couldn't help but laugh at the girl's clumsiness. She smiled warmly as she gently fixed the mess she'd made of the natural Konoha citizen's hair earlier.

"See you then, girly." With a wave, she departed, and Keitorin heaved a great sigh of relief, leaning against the wall. It was times like these she wished she had a watch. She didn't know what time it was exactly but the pretty ninja was in a hurry to drop off her paperwork before Gaara could make his way to his office and possibly see her. Then she'd leave the mansion to see if she could add to her work in the ways he'd asked her too in the days before she received her first medic class.

The way the tile floor tapped every time she took a step was almost unbearable to Keitorin but it wasn't nearly as loud as her heartbeat. It only quickened as the Leaf kunoichi worried more and more about being noticed the closer she came to her destination.

The slim, pale girl slipped into the Kazekage's office and dropped her folder solemnly on the well-organized table. A bit of regret flashed through her body as she remembered the long conversations they'd been having at this same desk since day one, and how well they made her forget her various troubles. In a Suna cafe, she knew she'd be lonely at very best, but she couldn't face Gaara, not today. The clever girl remembered back to the mirror that morning, and the circles under her eyes. He would know she'd been up all night. Maybe he'd even know she was thinking of him.

With a sigh, Kei closed her eyes to the thoughts and visuals harassing her conscience and slipped quietly out the door.

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Temari was tired, but anyone just looking at her would have had no idea, thrown off by the smile residue left over from the friendly gathering that had just concluded and left her to less pleasant business. Her green eyes shone against her lashes as she walked purposefully down the decorated hall of the Kazekage mansion. The blonde beauty smiled and waved politely at everyone she passed until she finally found her destination. A more serious look melted into her face in tune to a deep breath as the travel-worn kunoichi girded herself for what she needed to do.

The Suna woman opened the door and knocked on it in the same breath, as she'd always done to both her brothers, regardless of their position or status. She forced a smile for Keitorin's sake as the door fell away from the frame, and was surprised to see her baby brother alone in his large, cold office.

The Sand Lord's sea-green eyes rose to meet his sister's, and they stared awkwardly at one another for a long moment, Temari blinking in confusion as she tried to take in what she was seeing. Keitorin had been a near permanent fixture in Gaara's offices for quite a while now, and it hadn't been too long ago that she'd actually seen the imported kunoichi leaving her room and going the direction of this very office. The strong woman shook it off and let herself in, closing the mahogany door behind her.

"Hello, Temari. You look well." Gaara greeted his eldest sister in his monotone voice. She nodded and sat down in one of the satin chairs that bordered the side of his desk facing the door, folding her arms on his desk as she prepared to deliver her important message.

"If Keitorin had been here, I would have told her to leave." Temari admitted, more or less addressing her surprise that she'd caught him at a time when Keitorin was gone. The arrangement of the beige chairs suggested that Keitorin hadn't visited at all that day. Gaara said nothing and she went on with a small, inaudible sigh. "I found out some things about Keitorin while I was in the leaf."

Her green eyes were watching her half-distracted brother intently, her suspicions confirmed when she finished the sentence. The siblings' green-spectrum eyes locked, the owner of the lighter ones dropping what he was doing to throw his attention into her message. A moment of silence passed.

"Go on." Gaara finally commanded shortly, realizing now what his sister had done and wanting to get past it. He could defend his reaction later if absolutely needed.

"Keitorin Amehana is well-liked throughout the village..." The diplomat started, sensing as her brother's anticipation grew. "But I also found out that she is the lover of Sasuke Uchiha. It... Is common knowledge within the village."

The Kazekage dropped his pen abruptly, it clattered loudly against his desk before audibly rolling off and again striking a hard surface, this time the floor. His face remained totally cool and expressionless. Finally looking down when the cylindrical instrument had come to a halt, he picked it back up distractedly and returned to sitting upright. His eyes did not travel back to his sister, or even her general area.

"It appears Tsunade wanted her to throw herself into a project, hoping she may forget him. She's apparently been doing this often with Keitorin. It was also Keitorin's dream to train a medic squad."

"I see. Thank you. You may leave now." Unspoken words hung in the air but Temari graciously ignored them, silently standing and turning to make her leave, kindly allowing her younger brother the space and air he needed to deal with this loud and sudden development.

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2 hours later Keitorin was back in the mansion, sneaking about like a child searching for a cookie. She was a clumsy but methodical and well-prepared woman, but in her haste and unrivaled anxiousness that morning she'd forgotten a couple of papers that she needed.

The young shinobi had hemmed and hawed for a while before finally coming to the ultimate conclusion that there was no way around it- her duty had to come before her silly social trepidations. So the small girl had gotten up from her awkwardly lonely and secluded suna cafe table and started reluctantly back to the well-guarded Kazekage's mansion, her thoughts dark and brooding, hanging over her like a gray storm cloud.

But as Keitorin had drawn nearer to the mansion, she'd found a small glimmer of hope- Perhaps she could slip into her room without Gaara knowing she'd ever been in there at all, perhaps if she was fast enough. Somewhere in her mind she realized what a stupid and futile effort that was- Gaara was a good leader and always knew of any and every movement that came near the heart of his village, especially the mansion- but it was her only hope at this point.

Being trained as a shinobi, Keitorin was stealthy, but she also had a tendency to be clumsy that usually came out when she wasn't under pressure. The pressure in this situation only made her feel more awkward- If she was cauht sneaking about, it would be embarrassing, but not necessarily fatal. So the young kunoichi decided it was best to be swift rather than sneaky- basically, to just make a mad dash for it.

Her heart beat faster and faster as she conspicuously speed-walked her way to her destination, but as she should have known, a quick disturbance in the wind preceded a similarly quick entrance by Kazekage Gaara, standing in her path like a Greek statue; imposing and beautiful.

"Why have you avoided me today?" The red-haired lord stated directly, cutting directly to the chase as Keitorin had come to realize was very characteristic of him. Gaara was not the type to beat around the proverbial bush.

"I-I have no idea what you're talking about." Keitorin stammered, her face and mind going blank in mild awe of his presence. No matter how many times she saw it, his face still struck her. Just like another man she knew.

Gaara's eyes narrowed slightly as his foreign guest peered meekly up at him, trying to come up with a better excuse than the crap she'd just given him. But something else was distracting her now- a flicker of pain in his beautiful eyes that baffled her. What could possibly be hurting this lord of men? But the curvaceous kunoichi pushed the thought from her mind as swiftly as it had entered- Gaara was strong, and she was wrong.

His eyes lingered on her face for a few moments before he simply stood to the side and opened the door, giving her room enough to enter his office.

"Forget it. Please come in, I took the liberty of retrieving some things from your room I thought you might need. I hope you don't mind. I'm sure my office is a better place to work than anywhere else you might have access to."

Keitorin relaxed a bit and nodded, thankful she'd cleaned her room that morning. The two shinobi disappeared together behind the door.

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I'm sorry this took so long! Chapter 4 is already half-written, so that should be up relatively soon! Thanks for reading!